Mane Game

Eli had an adjustment yesterday and needs a few days off before he can get going under saddle. Those days off were bound to happen anyway with rain through the weekend. And of course I’m still pretty skeptical about how much work he can reasonably do while his face is stuffed with gauze.

But armed with goodies from Riding Warehouse, I’m ready to outfit swiss-cheese-face Eli for getting back to work under saddle. Okay, only two of those three things are for Eli.

Inevitably, I had some pony time to fill up with something. I hadn’t messed with Eli’s mane in a while and it desperately needed help. Pull, cut, clip, or strip? I’m firmly entrenched in the stripping blade camp.

Were Eli’s mane ever to be braided, I’d pull it or try to figure out how to cut it in such a way that wouldn’t bring the wrath of braiders down upon me. He doesn’t tolerate pulling well (ha), but does okay with the stripping blade once he realizes I’m not trying to pull his mane.

To strip the mane, I just run the blade underneath the mane with some mane between my thumb and the blade, and the blade does the grunt work. I pull down, not out. And kind of twist/flip down, really–not just a straight pull. If I am patient about it, I can make it look like it has been pulled, but usually I’m not patient and it looks a little rough.

Even with the blade, he still gets a little weird up by his ears and at his withers, but he’s manageable as long as there are cookies involved.

The end result this time around looks okay–I did it in less than ten minutes. It could be more even if I cared more, but I don’t. Stripping is way faster than mane pulling for sure, and if you’re not braiding it’s the way to go.

hmmmm inneresting! i’m not very familiar with this method (tho really haven’t had to do shit with any mane at all in years since i’m not allowed to touch izzy’s…. but i *can* play with bali’s muahaha). also lol @ swiss cheese face Eli!